A Planned Parenthood group in California has launched a pro-abortion “prayer” campaign “in celebration of women and reproductive rights.” The project, entitled “40 Days of Prayer to Keep Abortion Safe and Legal,” is sponsored by Six Rivers Planned Parenthood in Eureka, California, and features 40 different prayers individuals can offer for those involved in the abortion process: the mothers, escorts, abortionists performing the procedure — everyone, it seems, except the babies destroyed by abortion. The effort runs from March 18 through April 27.

The Rev. Rebecca Turner of Faith Aloud, one of the sponsors of the project, explained to Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link that the “prayer” initiative is based on the belief that “abortion is a very private decision that women do often make. One-third of all American women do make this decision at some point in their lives, and we want them to know that God loves them in every situation, and whether they choose abortion or choose to have a child, whatever their decision, that God’s love is always present for them.”

Turner said that those involved “pray for women who are making difficult choices, we pray for pregnant women, we pray for the doctors who work in clinics, we pray for everyone who may be involved” — but not for the pre-babies.

While it is impossible to ignore the obvious similarities, the pro-abortion minister insisted that her group’s prayer campaign was not intended as a challenge to 40 Days for Life, the annual initiative during which pro-life individuals and groups pray for an end to abortion. She did, however claim that the pro-life prayer project was “misguided ... because it completely eliminates the woman. And it is the pregnant woman that we are concerned for.”

She emphasized that “instead of praying for unborn children, you know, we’re praying for those women, and we’re praying that they find within their own faith a strength, and that they don’t make decisions out of shame, that they don’t feel shame that’s imposed upon them by anybody else, whether it be family members or religious authorities or whatever, but instead to look to their own faith for strength and confidence, and to do what’s best for themselves.”

As for the babies killed by abortion, the Rev. Turner said that they are less significant than adults. “I do not, I cannot equate that early embryonic life with your life,” she told the CitizenLink reporter. “I see your life as having more significant value than that life that is in the earliest stages of development, and I don’t think it’s anyone else’s right to make a decision for a woman about when she’s ready to become a mother and when she’s physically capable of carrying a child to term.”

She expressed her view that “God has always given us, not just the right but the responsibility as women, for knowing when is the right time to start a family and to bring a child into the world, and that it’s irresponsible to bring a child into the world when the community is not ready for it.”

Pro-life and Christian groups reacted to news of the pro-abortion “prayer” initiative with predictable indignation. For example, Liberty Counsel, a pro-family legal advocacy group, noted that on day 35 of the pro-abortion campaign, participants are encouraged to pray that “girls everywhere” will have the opportunity to live lives filled with good health, education, recreation, and vocational choices. “Ironically, this prayer excludes girls who are in utero,” noted a Liberty Counsel press release. “It also offensively insinuates that mothers are incapable of becoming educated, enjoying art, being healthy, or holding a job.”

The pro-family group noted that Planned Parenthood’s larger campaign “to dehumanize children based on their age is similar to a tactic once used in Nazi Germany towards the Jews and other non-Arians: first ostracize them from the rest of society, and then annihilate them. Planned Parenthood’s attempts to develop a ‘spiritual’ aspect to the pro-abortion argument can seem comparable to the religious leaders in Germany who supported Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.”

Said Liberty Counsel’s founder and chairman, Matthew Staver: “As much as they might not like the comparison, Planned Parenthood today is no different than the eugenics promoted by its founder Margaret Sanger who advocated the elimination of ‘undesirables,’ just like the most famous eugenicist, Adolf Hitler.”

Among the “prayers” the pro-abortion group is offering in its 40-day vigil are:

• “Day 1: Today we pray for women for whom pregnancy is not good news, that they know they have choices.”

• “Day 5: Today we pray for medical students who want to include abortion care in their practice. May they receive good training and find good mentors.”

• “Day 7: Today we pray for the 45 million American women who have had safe, legal abortions. May they stand tall and refuse shame.”

• “Day 11: Today we pray for better access to all forms of birth control.”

• “Day 18: Today we pray for all the staff at abortion clinics around the nation. May they be daily confirmed in the sacred care that they offer women.”

• “Day 36: Today we pray for the families we’ve chosen. May they know the blessing of choice.”

• “Day 38: Today we pray for a cloud of gentleness to surround every abortion facility. May everyone feel calm and loving.”

• “Day 40: Today we give thanks and celebrate that abortion is still safe and legal.”

By contrast to the pro-abortion prayer campaign, since its inception in 2007 the global 40 Days for Life initiative has documented nearly 6,000 children saved from abortion, the closing of 22 abortion clinics, and 69 abortion providers abandoning the business of killing babies.

Dave Bereit, national director for 40 Days for Life, told LifeSiteNews.com that while it is difficult to ignore the pro-abortion group’s efforts to imitate his organization’s pro-life prayer initiative, “when that imitation is being used to promote the killing of innocent children, we are anything but flattered.”

He added that “Planned Parenthood has stooped to a new low by exploiting pastors and churches to ‘celebrate’ the slaughter of babies made in God’s image and likeness. They certainly wouldn’t be doing this if 40 Days for Life wasn’t having a devastating impact on their abortion business!”

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